diff --git a/bitcoin/rpc.py b/bitcoin/rpc.py
index d124979f..d3cfc55a 100644
--- a/bitcoin/rpc.py
+++ b/bitcoin/rpc.py
@@ -446,7 +446,10 @@ def submitblock(self, block, params=None):
     def validateaddress(self, address):
         """Return information about an address"""
         r = self._call('validateaddress', str(address))
-        r['address'] = CBitcoinAddress(r['address'])
+        if 'address' in r:
+            r['address'] = CBitcoinAddress(r['address'])
+        elif 'isvalid' in r:
+            return r  # No address returned, only 'isvalid': False if not valid.
         if 'pubkey' in r:
             r['pubkey'] = unhexlify(r['pubkey'])
         return r
diff --git a/bitcoin/tests/test_rpc.py b/bitcoin/tests/test_rpc.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1b260560
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bitcoin/tests/test_rpc.py
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+# Distributed under the MIT/X11 software license, see the accompanying
+# file COPYING or http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php.
+
+from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function, unicode_literals
+
+import unittest
+
+from bitcoin.rpc import Proxy
+
+class Test_RPC(unittest.TestCase):
+    '''
+    Tests disabled, see discussion below.
+    "Looks like your unit tests won't work if Bitcoin Core isn't running;
+    maybe they in turn need to check that and disable the test if core isn't available?"
+    https://github.com/petertodd/python-bitcoinlib/pull/10
+    '''
+    def test_can_validate(self):
+        if False:
+            working_address = '1CB2fxLGAZEzgaY4pjr4ndeDWJiz3D3AT7'
+            p = Proxy()
+            r = p.validateAddress(working_address)
+            self.assertEqual(r['address'], working_address)
+            self.assertEqual(r['isvalid'], True)
+    
+    def test_cannot_validate(self):
+        if False:
+            non_working_address = 'LTatMHrYyHcxhxrY27AqFN53bT4TauR86h'
+            p = Proxy()
+            r = p.validateAddress(non_working_address)
+            self.assertEqual(r['isvalid'], False)